Our Best Entrepreneurs Should Be Solving Real Problems, Not Sitting Around Creating Apps

Hyper-connected blogger and tech luminary Robert Scoble, just wrote a great post called
“Why I’m treating startups more critically
lately.“ Of late,
Robert finds himself meeting with lots of crappy, over-funded,
digital startups that desperately need more time in the oven,
an intervention by Dr. Drew, or more likely,
Dr. Kevorkian. (My choice of words, not Robert’s!) Not
only am I seeing the same things, but I’d take it a step
further.

I believe this current crop of entrepreneurs might actually be
hurting America - and perverting the very idea of
innovation in the same way Beyonce’s Run The World is like
kicking Aretha Franklin in the ribs…repeatedly. All is
not lost. Keep reading…there are ways to take advantage
of this situation, though it’s too late to save this song:

“We’re making our own way and making our own jobs…We
don’t need your jobs, your advice, your
instruction. Pretty soon we won’t need your music labels
or publishing houses; we’ll be doing it ourselves on
iTunes and Amazon.”

While I admire Justin’s can-do spirit and terrific achievements,
he’s spent far too much time around other ambitious, hungry
entrepreneurs. He is the exception, the elite. 99% of his
peers are not peers at all; they don’t build streaming websites,
they snack on Cheetos while streaming planking videos. They have the same sense
of entitlement, selfishness, and ‘screw The Man’ attitude Justin
alludes to, minus two important things – talent and the drive to
work at it.

The latest US generation has led a life of leisure. Arab
protesters carry swords and machetes, ours carry iPhone 4S’s in pink, personalized cases.
The resulting innovations and their inventors reflect that
hardship-free aesthetic. In many ways, this latest wave of
digital entrepreneurs takes the easy path. It’s easy to start a
web site. It’s easy to make an app. It’s easy to do anything that
doesn’t require big capital investment, physical infrastructure,
or a fleet of trucks driven by beefy, middle-aged men named Al or
Tony. Things like Angry Birds, coupon sites, and social networks
look like the pets of America’s great inventions from the past –
flight, electricity, assembly lines, cars, the internet, Ike and
Tina Turner.

Hurting America?

From computers to desks to chairs used by cute digital startups
like Oink or Bizzle or FoSchnizzle, – it’s all made possible by
better, more substantive innovators. This superior breed of
entrepreneurs and inventors toils away in relative obscurity,
often in Asia, solving real, complex problems. They squeeze 32GB
onto something the size of mint strip. Or, they make un-killable
batteries that let us Tweet deep into the night. They make solar
cells worthwhile or water out of thin air.

Back in the US, a stunning surplus of VC cash and leisure time
feeds this feeble form of innovation – where getting something to
scroll from the left instead of right can be
considered a breakthrough. It’s not that the entrepreneurs
aren’t smart or capable or impressive, its that the market
doesn’t demand they try that hard. Why build a plant when someone
will give you $300 million to collect email addresses for a daily
deals site?

The real risk of all this is the same thing that happened in the
banking industry – disproportionately high incomes driven
by distortions that siphon talent away from
productive industries to unproductive ones. There is real demand
for top engineers and inventors to commercialize new ways to
harness ocean water. Instead, that talent can be found gambling
onfictitious investments or perfecting the
trajectory of a freshly killed digital pig. Multiply that
situation by thousands and you have:

A country completely disconnected from real world problems
faced by the rest of the world (like, no water)

Entrepreneurs missing out on a chance to make money to
solve those problems

The US falling farther behind and deeper in debt as its
biggest talent counts clicks from within a narrowing,
darkening, digital consumer bunghole

By the way, I am not saying there is no room in the world for
entertainment or leisure-oriented innovation, but I am saying if
we want to continue getting those Lenovo’s from China, they’re
not going to accept our Tweets or Oinks as payment.

What’s next and so what?

As the market purges these lackluster companies, disposable
incomes continue shrinking, and resource costs rise as emerging
markets consume more, American innovation will need to step up.
We will need to build the kinds of things Indians and Chinese
will buy. You and I know they won’t be buying Oink or Bizzy.
China can and will make their own inane, ridiculous apps.
My new book,Econovation is all about what’s in store
for the US in the next decade and what innovations will be in
demand. Other than buying dozens of copies for you and all
your friends (immediately!), there are some other things you
should consider right now:

Immediately start putting your pitch together for any kind of
digital, social, mobile, adorable buzzword startup you
have in mind. The time will never be better to get it
funded! …those days are numbered. For now, it’s like
taking candy from a baby (coincidentally, that’s the premise of
my forthcoming mobile game company, Furious Babies)

If you are an investor, you probably know that no one cares
about that new RSS reader app you funded. Save your money
for a business that makes something real. I know it’s not
in vogue, but it will be…read my book.

For inventors who know they can solve real world problems,
there is no shortage of them – start now! Get your pitches
ready. Your time is about to come. And, government
will dance the Macarena to help you. More on that in future
posts.

If you are a parent, glue posters of real innovators all over
your kids’ walls. I’m not above suggesting electrified security
in case they try replacing them with pictures of The Jonas
Brothers. Don’t settle until your kids do this when they
see Ajay Bhatt: